As part of the project “Developing Guidelines for the Management of Biodegradable Waste in Municipalities in the Baltic States”, 12 participants from Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania visited Germany. Over three days, the participants – including Laurynas Virbickas, Director of Kaunas RATC – learned about the legal framework, technologies and practical solutions for biodegradable waste management. The delegation visited the regional ministry, a landfill, the municipal environmental protection department and waste management companies in Schwerin and Rostock.

According to Virbickas, the visit showed that although Germany has decades of experience in biodegradable waste management, Lithuania is not just a laggard: “We have strong examples, and EU support allows us to invest in modern systems. This gives us the opportunity to learn from the German experience – to adopt what has worked, avoid mistakes and even take a tougher approach in some cases,” Virbickas shares his insights.

Meanwhile, the German experience shows that there are challenges everywhere: even in Germany, where bio- and food waste has been collected for 30 years, separate collection rates are no longer increasing in line with EU directives. The figures show that even with such efforts, it will not yet be possible to reach the targets set in Lithuania.